Sustainability
Society
Financial wellbeing
. . .

Financial Wellbeing

Two colleagues smiling at something on a computer

Our ambition is to support the financial wellbeing of our customers and communities. We aim to champion the potential of people and families at every stage of their lives. By working to create a society which is financially confident and resilient, we want to empower people to take control of their finances and their futures, and to make the most of their money.

We achieved our 2020-2023 financial capability ambitions

During 2023, we reached targets set in 2020 to support the financial capability of our customers and communities.

Ambition 1: 15 million financial capability interactions by 2023 (SDG 4.4, 4.6 and 10.2)

We delivered 4.3 million(*) financial capability interactions in 2023, with a cumulative total of 18.4 million(*) interactions against the strategic ambition of 15 million between 2020 and 2023. This comprised of the following:


MoneySense	4.9 million
Financial Health Check	3.3 million
Financial Capability products and features^	9.8 million
Fraud & Financial education	0.4 million
Total(*)	18.4 million

^Including Spending features and Know Your Credit Score

Ambition 2: Help two million additional customers start saving by 2023 (SDG 10.2)

Our success measures are based on the number of customers who saved £100 for the first time in the reporting period ended 31st December 2023 compared with the January 2020 baseline. During 2023, we helped an additional 0.6 million(*) customers start to save, with a cumulative total of 2.3 million(*) customers against the 2020 strategic ambition of 2 million between 2020 and 2023.

We now have an ambition to help 10 million people, per year, manage their financial wellbeing by 2027

(SDG 1.4, 8.10, 10.2)

During 2023, we set an ambition to help 10 million people, per year, manage their financial wellbeing by 2027.(1) We aim to help people manage their financial wellbeing through digital tools and personalised engagement. This ambition is based on helping people with our existing financial wellbeing tools and functions, including Financial Health Checks, Know Your Credit Score tool, Savings Goal tool, Savings Round Ups, Spending Features, as well as providing access to new propositions in the future.

Our new ambition is baselined against c.6m(*) customers we supported to manage their financial wellbeing for the year ended 31 December 2023. In 2024, we will continue to enhance our proposition and develop our measurement approach to support our 2027 ambition.(2) Our financial wellbeing ambition supersedes our financial capability ambitions.

Full details can be found in our 2023 Sustainability Basis of Reporting.

(1) There will be some overlap with the financial capability metric in 2023 for Financial Health Checks, Know Your Credit Score and Spending features. The financial capability ambition will be fully replaced by the financial wellbeing ambition in 2024.

(2) Actuals recorded for the year ended 31 December 2023 include customers only. Inclusion criterion and related methodologies may evolve over lifetime of the ambition as products and measurement capabilities are developed.

(*) Within the scope of EY assurance. Refer to our External assurance webpage for details.

Digital Financial Wellbeing Tool

Refer to our 2023 Sustainability Basis of Reporting for more information on the financial wellbeing metric.

Know Your Credit Score

Understanding a credit score, and how it is calculated and improved, is an important part of developing good money management skills. We were the first bank in the UK to offer a free credit score feature to our customers in 2020 and during 2023, we became the first bank in the UK to offer this free to non-customers also. Everyone across the UK, not just our customers, can now access our suite of Credit Score tools including features like Credit Score Predictor, Score History, Next Best Actions and helpful tips to improve their score. 4.2 million customers accessed Know Your Credit Score in 2023.

Spending features

Our free spending tracker feature in the app helps customers manage their money, by categorising spend and surfacing personalised highlights. Customers can also set targets with our budgeting tool. In 2023, 4.2 million customers have accessed spending features at least twice in the mobile app.

Savings Rounds Ups

Round Ups are available in our mobile app and allow customers to round up their spending, with the spare change directed to their savings account. Customers using this receive a weekly push notification telling them how much they’ve saved using Round Ups in the last week. During 2023, 395,000 customers have turned on Savings Round Ups.

Savings Goals

The Savings Goal Tool helps customers set realistic savings goals for the short and long term. Customers can set up a goal for things such as bills, life moments or building up a rainy day fund. The Savings Goal feature helps customers understand how much they need to save each month in order to reach their goal and could make a difference to how customers think about saving. During 2023, 175,000 customers have set themselves a new savings goal.

Financial health checks

Our trained Senior Personal Bankers provide free reviews of personal finances for customers, helping them to understand their financial position and focus on their goals. We delivered 358,000 Financial Health Checks in 2023.

Financial Education Programmes

MoneySense

MoneySense is our free financial education programme that aims to help 5-to 18-year-olds learn about money at home as well as in schools.

In 2023, MoneySense continued to help young people prepare for the transition from school to independent living and towards a better financial future.

Through the MoneySense schools programme we reached 1.1 million young people during 2023.

Financial Foundations Workshops

Developing good money practices and financial confidence has never been more important. From people who worry about money every day, to those who struggle to talk about their finances, our Financial Foundations Workshops are designed to empower participants to take control of their money and futures.

NatWest Thrive

NatWest Thrive, our financial wellbeing and life readiness programme, helps young people build the money mindset, self-belief and skills they need to feel more confident about their financial future. In February 2023, we announced three commitments to support young people to improve their financial wellbeing and feel more confident about their future.

To find out more, please see page 16 of our 2023 ESG Disclosures Report.

Supporting financial inclusion

Cost of living

In 2023, we provided £5.7 million of funding to charities to help customers and communities with cost of living. This included £1 million to the Trussell Trust to further support the Help through Hardship scheme, over £1.6 million to the debt advice sector and £900,000 for Responsible Finance to support provision of accessible credit.

Branch closures

We recognise the way people bank with us has evolved, with an increased demand for digital services. We give careful consideration to the impact that closing a branch might have on customers and proactively contact those in vulnerable situations to offer additional support to guide them through the change. We aim to provide our customers with 12 weeks’ notice of this change through easily accessible information via notices, factsheets, in-branch support and alternative ways to continue banking with us. Read more about our branch closures on our website and choice of channel on page 29 of our 2023 ESG Disclosures Report.

Basic current accounts

We provide a basic personal current account, known as a Foundation account, to help people to take the first step to financial inclusion. The account may be offered to those with poor, little or no credit history or those going through bankruptcy. It includes a debit card, access to digital banking services and everyday support such as text alerts to help customers manage their money. The account allows customers to bank with no monthly fee or added interest, meaning they can use their account without worrying about extra charges.

As at 31 December 2023, we support over 900,000 personal customers with a Foundation account.

Access to short-term borrowing

As one of the largest UK lenders, we play an important role in giving personal customers access to the finance they need. It’s important that we lend responsibly, making sure we’re helping people access the funds they need today, without creating more financial stress tomorrow.

We have a range of products that enable customers to access affordable credit, of which credit cards and overdrafts are two key propositions. All customers can review products and eligibility before applying without impacting their credit score.

These are complemented by tools to help customers understand and access borrowing options. See page 18 of our 2023 ESG Disclosures Report for more details.

Unsuccessful applications

We can direct customers who are unable to access credit, or whose applications are declined to practical tools. These tools include our Benefits Calculator, to help improve their finances and increase likelihood of a future successful application. We also provide information on how we reach our lending decisions.

Customer support and debt management

We use a data-led approach to monitor usage closely across our lending and have processes in place to protect customers. These processes help us to quickly identify anyone who might be getting into financial difficulty or using our products in a way that could create longer-term problems, for example persistent debt, repeat use, or paying for gambling.

We provide regular communication to customers who may be struggling and provide access to a dedicated Financial Health and Support team, who offer specialist support to customers who find themselves in financial difficulty.

During 2023, we sent 2.6 million targeted emails and letters to our most financially stretched customers. We also shared targeted digital reminders signposting customers to tools, advice and support.

If customers miss a payment, we have measures in place to support them. For example, we suppress interest on overdrafts at 32 days in excess and, from early February 2023, where customers missed several payments on an unsecured debt such as a loan or overdraft, we extended the time they could take to repay their debt from 18 to 24 months, giving them flexibility to repay.

We work with customers to consider debt management options that can help to improve their situation. We also actively refer customers for Free Independent Money Advice (FIMA) through our debt advice charity partners PayPlan (for Retail customers) and Step Change (for Business customers).

We have bespoke support in place for customers in vulnerable situations (CiVS). To deliver this, we work with organisations such as GamCare and Citizens Advice to improve the support available to CiVS and connect them with expert advice where appropriate. See page 27 for more information. All customers have access to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Mortgage Charter

In June 2023, we were one of the first high street banks to sign up to the UK Government’s Mortgage Charter, formalising the flexibility we already offered to our customers. Customers struggling with mortgage payments can change mortgage payments to interest-only for six months. Or they can extend their mortgage term to lower monthly repayments, with the option to change their mind in the first six months.